All this grift, graft, predatory pricing, price-fixing and parasitic monopolizing costs the public and the economy dearly.

CHARLES HUGH SMITH OCT 6, 2023 READ

In the past, these entities included petty fiefdoms, warlords and brigands. In the present, corporations are the entities guided by one goal: to maximize their private gain by any means available. This pathological drive to profiteer, exploit and pillage goes by the polite term “increasing shareholder value.” (I’m sure the warlords and brigands would be jealous of the modern-day PR machinery wielded by corporations.)

The powerful central state is both a threat to warlords / corporations and a potentially unmatchable ally. Should the warlord / corporation worm their way into the good graces of the state via bribes, gifts and other blandishments, then the state can legalize and enforce whatever predatory mechanisms they’ve established to fleece the public of their hard-earned wages.